Bernie Krause at 'Think Again': The TED Global Conference | Edinburgh, Scotland | June 2013

It was the delight of the year to attend the recent TED Global conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, this summer.

We met amazing people, doing extraordinary things to improve the world, their communities, and the environment.  The innovation, creativity, dedication, and inspiration found within this international gathering of TED speakers is legend - and the hospitality, friendship, and connection found within the assembly of participants and attendees left a significant impression upon us.  The positive spirit of the event (and the wide range of topics and approaches) was revitalizing, hopeful, and inspiring.

Here, Bernie Krause shares his lifelong efforts to explore the world of Soundscape and how he came to understand ways in which the creature chorus of the wild informs our connection to the natural world, to culture, to spirituality - and to one and another.

We hope you enjoy it.



Bernie and Kat Krause add thanks to communications consultant TJ Bauman, for her professional guidance in preparations for this TED Global talk.

A World of Soundscapes: Alpine Meadow

Just as streetlights engulf the starlight, human noise is all too rapidly drowning out the living sounds of the natural world.  For those who like a little wild nature in their days and nights, nothing can provide a sense of place like sound.

Wild Sanctuary's newly designed WildStore features an incomparable collection of soundscape albums from the most amazing wild places left in the world!  The collection of downloadable albums brings together several of the world's top nature recordists sharing their finest works.  To browse the catalog and listen to the short sound clips provided, is to enter directly into the habitats portrayed: rich, resonant, and utterly real.


Convenient preview (there is no word for pre-hear) sliders on the site provide a brief sense of content, artistic and exemplary detail for each album. Better yet, you can purchase full-length Mp3 selections by Krause, and his extraordinary colleagues in the field, that each provide a true sense of being at a particular place, season, and time.  A collection - worth collecting, as habitats like this are rarely found, often costly to get to, and the ephemeral nature of their soundscapes even more difficult to capture with such accurate presence and vitality.

Play the video (above) of 'Alpine Meadow', then take a journey of your own -- a visit to the WildStore is a breath of fresh air!

Coming Soon: Paperback Edition of 'The Great Animal Orchestra'

Received fine news from publishing group Little, Brown & Company (Hachette Book Group) that Bernie's newest book, 'The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places", (already available in hardback, e-book, e-book (enhanced), and audiobook versions) will soon be available in Trade Paperback version. Watch for it at your favorite local and on-line booksellers.

   

• PAPERBACK, March, 2013 •

"It's a passionate amalgam…aesthetic and holistic."  -- New York Times

First in the field of Soundscape Ecology

We are proud to announce the first academic publication to validate and express the term 'Soundscape Ecology' for a newly recognized field of scientific study. While others have tried to appropriate the term for more casual purposes, the scientific paper as articulated in the publication from the American Institute of Biological Sciences, 'BioScience' (March 2011, Vol. 61, No.3) clearly defines the meaning, scope, and origin of the term, in 'Soundscape Ecology: The Science of Sound in the Landscape', the article co-authored by soundscape pioneer, Bernie Krause.

Keeping WIRED to the Natural World

Thanks go to Clive Thompson and the well-versed editors at WIRED, for their May 19, 2008 story on soundscapes and 'How Man-made Noise Can Be Altering the Earth's Ecology.' Kudos always to that publication for their environmentally-friendly approach to the high tech world. We appreciate intrepid trailblazers of the Wired kind, exploring new ways to stay well-connected to the natural world - within the digital age. Image: budgetstockphoto.com

Educational Moment: Biophony

To learn more about the word coined by Dr. Krause, Biophony, or the the cumulative non-human sound produced by living organisms in a given biome, please visit Acoustic Ecology.
It is also a great resource to learn more about conservational biology.

You can also read about it on Neighborhood Newswire, a San Francisco Community Power organization.

More can be read at Wikitionary.